I painted this with Yälpi’s permission. It is gurtha (fire) that started in my mother’s Maḏarrpa Country. It went from Yilpara to Birany’birany. I have the honor of painting this fire with authority from Yälpi, and I am painting it for our children, to pass it onto the next generation, so that when Yälpi passes, the authority can go to our son.
– RERRKIRRWAŊGA MUNUŊGURR

Rerrkirrwaŋa paints the designs of her husband, Yälpi Yunupiŋu’s Gumatj clan. The significance of fire to the Yunupiŋu family of the Gumatj clan is paramount. It is said that the Gumatj clan language, Dhuwalandja, is itself the tongue of flame. This language, or tongue, like the flame, cuts through all artifice. It incinerates dishonesty leaving only the bones of the truth.

According to Gumatj song, Yirritja leaders first used fire in Gumatj country. This was made possible by the fire spread by Bäru, the ancestral crocodile. The fire affected many of the Gumatj’s sacred totems. For example, Waṉkurra (northern brown bandicoot, Isoodon macrourus macrourus) was forced through a hollow log. With his tail on fire, he traveled through the land and moved Gumatj identity to new places. Many of the creatures like Waṉkurra spread the clan outside of Gumatj country, establishing relationships between the Gumatj and other clans. The diamonds in Rerrkirrwaŋa's painting represents the fire. The colors that the artist has used (red, white, black, and yellow) call to the flames, smoke, charcoal, and dust. The colors also refer to the black skin, yellow fat, white bones, and red blood of the members of the Gumatj clan.

– Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre